SUMMER CAMP: “Beach/Ocean Week” is Next!

Hello all,

“Solar System Week” was certainly OUT OF THIS WORLD! As is often the case at PPA, the theme of the week surprisingly related to some major world-wide news! For instance, back in 2010 during Letter V is for Volcano Week, a usually dormant volcano in Iceland decided to rumble up and erupt for the first time in over 200 years! This week was equally as exciting and the teachers of PPA could not have planned it better if they had called NASA themselves! Early Monday morning, NASA scientists celebrated and announced the successful landing of the NASA Curiosity Rover on the surface of Mars! This exciting news was certainly discussed throughout Solar System Week as well as many other amazing topics! Keep reading to see for yourself!

The Curiosity Rover landing was the talk of Monday morning! The students’ eyes widened as they learned about what had happened and what this meant for the future of space exploration! One student raised his hand to ask the question on everyone’s mind – “Would the Rover see any Aliens while on Mars?” The teachers explained that they would get to see all that the Rover was seeing since it has very sophisticated camera and computer software that will send all the images back to Earth! The students giggled as they chatted together about what the aliens on Mars might look like. For their morning craft, the students created their own puppet interpretation of Martians! Take a look below to see them in action!

The fun continued as the students arrived at school on Tuesday ready for their field trip to Rita’s Ice! The students trekked down to the ice shop with one thing on their minds – Delicious Ice! Upon entering the shop, the students were greeted by their favorite Ice Man, Mr. Cleveland. As always, Mr. Cleveland did an amazing job answering the students questions about how the ice is made and what flavors are created! Speaking of flavors, the students selected three scrumptious flavors – one red, one blue, and one brown. Can you guess what they selected? If you said, red is cherry, brown is chocolate, and blue is cotton candy, then you are correct! How delicious!

Wednesday was CrAzY oUtFiT dAy at PPA and the students certainly did not disappoint! Take a look below to see some of the WaCkIeSt students in town!

Thursday was one of the most exciting days at PPA yet – a Surprise Guest visited PPA! In the morning, the students brainstormed a list of possible visitors that might be attending. While their list was quite impressive, the students did not guess the guest! Also on Thursday morning, the students viewed various images of Mars captured by Curiosity Rover (they can be found on the NASA site shown below). By Thursday afternoon, the surprise guest had arrived – Mr. Magician! The students were dazzled by his hilarious magic show! Be sure to take a look below to see some of the silly magic for yourself!

Friday marked the first bus field trip of August Session of Camp to the Newark Museum and Planetarium! Bus Driver Mike arrived with his amazing school bus and the students were off! Before long, the students arrived at the museum and headed into a private show at the planetarium! Unfortunately, cameras were not permitted inside the planetarium once the show started but what an interesting show it was! The students loved learning about the different constellations! The museum tour continued as the students observed and discussed various pieces of art around the museum. The students particularly loved the “Fit Zone” and “Dynamic Earth” sections of the museum. Take a peek below for some of the highlights from the students’ day at the Newark Museum!

What an amazing week it was learning all about incredible outer space! Be sure to check back next week as we head into “Beach and Ocean Week”. As always, thank you for reading. Have a fun and safe weekend!

-PPA

Reminders:

Events Next Week:

Monday – “Hello” to a Familiar Face and Craft Day!

Tuesday –Craft Day and a CrAzY hAt DaY!

Students are welcome to arrive to school wearing a CrAzy (yet functional) HaT today!